Short version: yes, publish one it takes about two minutes and it’s free. But publish the right one. A statement claiming compliance you don’t have is worse than no statement at all, and plaintiff firms read them.
Here’s what an accessibility statement actually does, where it’s genuinely required, what belongs in it, and how to get one live on your store today.
- An accessibility statement is a public page that names the standard you’re working toward and gives people a way to report barriers.
- It’s rarely mandatory for a typical US Shopify store but it’s cheap, it shows good faith, and it’s a standard term in Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) settlements.
- You can generate one free in about two minutes with Accessibility Statement Pro.
Shopify is the most-targeted platform in ADA litigation
This isn’t an abstract risk, and Shopify merchants are not at the edge of it. They’re at the center.
In July 2026, EcomBack recorded 262 ADA website accessibility lawsuits across US federal and state courts. Shopify stores accounted for 106 of them 40.46%, the most-targeted platform of the month. Custom-coded sites followed at 38.55%, and WordPress a distant third at 11.07%.
And July wasn’t a one-off. Across the six months before it, Shopify had already overtaken custom-coded sites as the most-targeted platform, with 952 lawsuits in the first half of 2026, 46.55% of all filings.
The industries being sued should look familiar too. Lifestyle, Fashion and Apparel made up 24.43% of July’s filings, second only to Restaurant, Food and Drinks at 40.84%. Between them, those two categories accounted for 65.27% of every ADA website lawsuit filed that month.
And the trend isn’t easing. 3,948 ADA website lawsuits were filed in 2025, up 23.84% from 2024. The first half of 2026 recorded 2,045 more than eleven new cases every day.
That’s the context for this page. An accessibility statement is not a shield. But it’s the cheapest item on the list, and it’s the one that gives a frustrated customer somewhere to go other than a law firm.
What an accessibility statement is
An accessibility statement is a public page documenting three things: your commitment to making your site usable by everyone, the standard you’re working toward, and how someone can reach you if they hit a barrier.
That third element is the important one, and it’s the one most statements treat as an afterthought.
If a customer using a screen reader can’t complete checkout on your store, what are their options? Without a statement, they have two: give up and shop elsewhere, or find a lawyer. With a statement, they have a third email the address you published and tell you about it.
That is not a small difference. Most accessibility problems reach merchants either as lost revenue they never attribute correctly, or as a demand letter. A statement creates a path for the problem to reach you as a message instead.
It’s the same reason we publish our own accessibility statement and a dedicated form for reporting barriers.
Where accessibility statements are actually required
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) don’t require you to publish a statement. They’re a technical standard about how your site works, not about what you say about it. So it’s worth being precise about where any obligation actually comes from.
| Who | What applies | Is a published statement expected? |
|---|---|---|
| US public entities (state and local government, schools, transit) | ADA Title II rule, WCAG 2.1 AA. Compliance dates April 26, 2027 (population 50,000+) and April 26, 2028 (under 50,000 and special districts), set by an interim final rule. | Yes, standard practice, and part of most compliance programs. |
| US federal agencies | Section 508, plus Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Memorandum M-24-08. | Yes, but not from Section 508, which mandates accessible technology rather than a statement. M-24-08 is what requires agencies to maintain a digital accessibility statement. Vendors are reached through procurement, not bound directly. |
| Organizations with employees in Ontario, Canada | Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA). | Not a statement, but at 50 or more employees in Ontario you must document and publish accessibility policies and a multi-year plan. Below 50, policies still apply but do not have to be written down. Smaller organizations have other duties: training, accessible customer service, and a compliance report at 20+. No employees in Ontario means AODA does not apply. |
| Businesses selling into the EU | European Accessibility Act, applicable from June 28, 2025. | Yes, if in scope, but see the microenterprise exemption below. |
| Anyone who has settled an ADA claim | The settlement agreement itself. | Yes, a routine term. |
Three of these deserve more than a table row.
The EU exemption most Shopify merchants qualify for
The European Accessibility Act is often described as sweeping every e-commerce seller into scope. For a lot of Shopify merchants, that isn’t true.
Under Directive (EU) 2019/882, a microenterprise is an enterprise employing fewer than 10 people with an annual turnover or balance sheet total not exceeding €2 million (Article 3(23)). Article 4(5) is explicit: “Microenterprises providing services shall be exempt from complying with the accessibility requirements.” The rules themselves have applied since June 28, 2025 (Article 31(2)) the deadline is real, and so is the exemption.
If you’re a small store selling into the EU, check that threshold before assuming the EAA obliges you to do anything. Note the exemption covers services, if you also manufacture or distribute products in scope, the position differs.
A note on Ontario (AODA)
If you have staff in Ontario, the threshold for a published policy is 50 or more employees there. At that size you must document your accessibility policies, notify the public they’re available a notice on your website does it and post a multi-year accessibility plan.
Below 50 you still need accessibility policies; you are simply not required to write them down. And AODA is not silent below that line: training and accessible customer service duties apply to any organization with Ontario staff, and those with 20 or more must file a compliance report. If you have no employees in Ontario, AODA doesn’t apply to you at all it follows your staff, not your customers.
Worth knowing that what AODA asks you to publish is accessibility policies and a plan, which are different documents from the statement this article is about.
The settlement clause that trips merchants up
Publishing an accessibility statement with a working contact method is a routine term in ADA website settlement agreements. Plenty of merchants first encounter the requirement as a line item in a document their lawyer is negotiating.
So: for a typical US-based Shopify store with no public-sector ties, a statement isn’t strictly mandated. It’s best practice the kind that costs nothing and demonstrates good faith, which is a reasonable thing to have in place before you need it.
The honest limitation
Here’s the part that needs saying plainly, because a lot of marketing in this space blurs it.
An accessibility statement does not make your store accessible. Publishing one changes nothing about whether a screen reader can navigate your product pages, whether your color contrast passes, or whether your checkout works with a keyboard alone.
And there’s a sharper version of this problem. If your statement asserts that your store fully conforms to WCAG 2.1 Level AA, and it doesn’t, you have published a claim that is not true about your own website. In ADA litigation, that is not a neutral document. Plaintiff firms read accessibility statements. A confident conformance claim on a site with real barriers is a gift to the other side.
The same logic applies to accessibility overlay widgets. In July 2026, 25.19% of ADA website lawsuits 66 of 262 were filed against sites that had an accessibility widget installed. The gap between what overlays promise and what they deliver is documented and easy to demonstrate in court. A widget is not a defense, and neither is a statement.
So the useful statement is an honest one. It names the standard you’re targeting, acknowledges that you’re working toward it, describes what you’ve done, and tells people how to report what you’ve missed. That’s a defensible document. “This website is fully compliant” is not, unless it’s true and you can prove it.
What belongs in a good accessibility statement
Use this as your accessibility statement template checklist:
| Element | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The standard you’re targeting | WCAG 2.1 Level AA is the usual answer it’s the benchmark referenced in most settlements and procurement requirements. WCAG 2.2 is the current version and is backward-compatible with 2.1. If nothing specific is pointing you at 2.1 a settlement, a procurement requirement, a Title II obligation target 2.2 Level AA. It’s what we target on our own statement. |
| Your honest current status | Fully conformant, partially conformant, or actively remediating. Partial conformance is a perfectly respectable thing to publish. |
| A real contact method | An email address and phone number a human monitors. A form that goes nowhere is worse than nothing. |
| A response commitment | Even a general one aiming to respond within a few business days sets expectations and signals the channel is real. |
| Known issues | Naming a barrier you’re working on reads as competence, not weakness. |
| A last-updated date | A statement from three years ago tells readers the page is decorative. |
If you need a formal conformance document rather than a public-facing statement common when an enterprise buyer or government body asks that’s a Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT), or the Accessibility Conformance Report (ACR) produced from it a different document with a different purpose.
How to generate an accessibility statement on Shopify
Writing that page from scratch means drafting the copy, formatting it, creating the page, and remembering to keep the contact details current. It’s not hard, but it’s the kind of task that stays on a list for months.
Accessibility Statement Pro is a free app from our team that handles it from inside your Shopify admin.
- Enter your support details business name, email,
- Preview the statement before anything goes
- Publish, and the page is added to your store automatically at Online Store → Pages → Accessibility Statement, so it behaves like any other page and can be linked from your footer.
You can update your accessibility support contact details at any time, which matters more than it sounds. Support addresses turn over. A statement pointing at an inbox nobody reads is the failure mode to avoid.
The app also lets you book a call with our accessibility team. It’s there for the obvious reason: the statement is the easy part.
Free · no credit card · live in about two minutes
Install Accessibility Statement Pro
Do the statement, then do the work
Publishing a statement is a genuinely good first step. It gives customers a way to reach you, it shows you took the question seriously, and it puts a marker down that accessibility is something your store takes seriously.
It’s a first step, though not a finish line. The statement describes your commitment. An accessibility audit tells you whether your store lives up to it, and remediation is what closes the gap. If your statement names WCAG 2.1 AA as your target, the useful next question is how far from that target you currently are.
That’s not a guess anyone should make about their own store. In our experience, automated scans catch only 30–40% of accessibility barriers. The rest surface through manual testing and testing with actual assistive technology users. Our website accessibility checklist covers what to look for in the meantime.
Start here: Install Accessibility Statement Pro free, and you’ll have a live statement page in a couple of minutes.
Then find out where you stand: book a free accessibility audit and we’ll tell you what’s actually standing between your store and the standard your statement commits to.
Frequently asked questions
Is an accessibility statement legally required for a Shopify store?
For a typical US-based store with no public-sector ties, no. It becomes required if you’re a public entity under ADA Title II, an organization with 50 or more employees in Ontario under the AODA, a business in scope of the European Accessibility Act, or if you’ve settled an ADA claim that includes publishing one as a term.
Does an accessibility statement protect me from an ADA lawsuit?
No. It demonstrates good faith and gives customers a way to report problems before they escalate, but it is not a legal defense. An inaccurate statement can make your position worse, not better.
What’s the difference between an accessibility statement and a VPAT?
A statement is a public-facing page about your commitment and contact route. A VPAT, and the ACR produced from it, is a formal conformance document typically requested by enterprise or government buyers during procurement.
Can I just say my site is WCAG compliant?
Only if it is and you can prove it. An unsupported conformance claim on a site with real barriers is evidence against you in litigation.
Is there a free accessibility statement generator for Shopify?
Yes Accessibility Statement Pro is free, generates a ready-to-publish page from your support details, and installs it into your store’s Pages.
How often should I update my accessibility statement?
Whenever your support contact details change, whenever your conformance status changes, and after any significant remediation work. Always refresh the last-updated date.
Does an accessibility widget or overlay count as a statement?
No, and the two shouldn’t be confused. Overlays are a separate product and a documented litigation risk 25.19% of July 2026 ADA website lawsuits targeted sites that had one installed.
This article is for general information and is not legal advice. Accessibility obligations vary by jurisdiction, organization type, and circumstance.
